Biodiversity
About the programme
The current rate of biodiversity loss is sometimes described as "the 6th extinction of species". Although this term is debatable, it represents a reality described in 2019 in the scientific report of the IPBES, the platform of international experts on biodiversity.
The living world of animals and vegetation is under pressure from human activity, exacerbated by industrialisation and the expansion of intensive farming practices. The number of individuals per species, the number of species and therefore biological diversity are falling, with cascading consequences on food chains that are undermining the balance of ecosystems. These imbalances threaten the contributions made by ecosystems to human society, in terms of clean air and water and soil fertility, not to mention 'cultural' services such as the link between societies and their landscapes or their attachment to a good quality of life, which depends on the good health of the natural environment in which they live. In the long term, these imbalances compromise the very production activities that currently represent the main pressures on biodiversity.
The IPBES has named the five most significant pressures: changes in land and sea use and the resulting loss of habitats, overexploitation of resources (particularly fishing), climate change, pollution and invasive alien species.
Today, 60% of living biomass (in carbon) is livestock, 36% is humans, and only 4% is wild animals. 70% of birds are actually farmed poultry. A German study shows a 75% decline in the total biomass of flying insects in 27 years, in an area that is supposedly protected.
For several decades, policies to protect nature have been initiated at different scales. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted in December 2022 as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); the European Union's "Biodiversity Strategy 2030" was published in 2021; and France's 3rd National Biodiversity Strategy is due to be published in 2023.
IDDRI intends to contribute to the ambitious implementation of the Kunming-Montreal framework at international, regional and national levels, and is working in particular on issues of governance and finance.
The first area involves studying the implementation of biodiversity objectives in public policy, through national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and the integration of biodiversity objectives into sectoral policies. In particular, as an innovative contribution to this axis:
- In France, IDDRI is working on the place of biodiversity in ecological planning, as an environmental policy tool, and its spatial application, in the context of the implementation of the National Biodiversity Strategy.
- Based on the observation that the development trajectories of recent decades have failed to stem the loss of biodiversity, IDDRI is exploring the possibility of basing development trajectories on the sustainable use of biodiversity, based on alternative visions of the relationship between human societies and nature.
The second area focuses on the implementation and scope of transparency mechanisms to strengthen the contributions and accountability of governments and other stakeholders with regard to global and national objectives.
Finally, through its work, the Institute analyses the issue of the mobilisation and alignment of financial resources, in particular through reforms of the multilateral funding system and reflections on new funding tools, at all levels (reform of harmful incentives, including subsidies, involvement of the private sector).
